Xbox One UK release date confirmed as 22 November

The Xbox One will be available form 22 November 2013, in the UK as well as 12 other initial launch markets, Microsoft has announced.

This week, the Xbox One began full production in preparation for launch, the company said, adding that it is "a product culminating from many years of listening to you, our fans, developing innovative technology, and working with the best game and entertainment partners in the industry."

With Xbox One pre-orders having already sold out at many retailers, Microsoft said the firm is working hard to ensure an additional supply of consoles are now available for pre-order through retail partners.

"We are humbled and gratified by the tremendous interest in Xbox One from game fans everywhere. We have sold out of our pre-order supply in the US faster than at any other time in our history and we are on path to have the biggest launch of an Xbox ever," the company said.

It has also been revealed that processing speed and performance will be around 10 per cent higher than previously announced, with the CPU being boosted from 1.6GHZ to 1.75GHZ.